Chelsea King, 17, Missing 2-25-2010 Rancho Bernadino CA (BODY FOUND)

[Shell]

Tracygirl, I listened last night and hearing all the things happening left me awake until the wee hours of the morning! I turned it off a while ago but am about to turn it on. That thing is addictive! Maybe I will just call it my new hobby 

[Tracygirl]

I want to know why the investigators left in a hurry, if it has anything to do with this case or the Amber case. I am on pins and needles.

[klaasend]

I want to know why the investigators left in a hurry, if it has anything to do with this case or the Amber case. I am on pins and needles.

I keep checking the local websites and nothing new yet.

[Live*Learn*Love]

Lake Elsinore man held in search for Poway teen
Chelsea King still missing; registered sex offender being questioned in case

By J. Harry Jones, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Originally published February 28, 2010 at 7:47 p.m., updated February 28, 2010 at 10:07 p.m.
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore makes announcement in Chelsea King case Sunday.

Sean M. Haffey / Union-Tribune

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore makes announcement in Chelsea King case Sunday.

Related story: Massive search continues for Poway girl

Photo gallery: Sunday's search for Chelsea King
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore makes announcement in Chelsea King case Sunday.

Poway High senior Chelsea King

photo

Department of Justice photo

In custody: John Albert Gardner III of Lake Elsinore
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore makes announcement in Chelsea King case Sunday.

Photo by Sean M. Haffey - Union-Tribune

Sheriff Gore told a press conference in Rancho Bernardo: “Our primary goal in all of this is to find Chelsea King.”
San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore makes announcement in Chelsea King case Sunday.

- Union-Tribune / 2006 file photo

Gardner was arrested in front of this Del Dios restaurant on the west shore of Lake Hodges.

A registered sex offender was taken into custody and was being questioned by homicide detectives Sunday night in connection with the disappearance of Poway teenager Chelsea King, said San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore.

John Albert Gardner III, 30, of Lake Elsinore, was arrested at 4:20 p.m. in front of a popular Mexican restaurant and bar called Hernandez Hide-A-Way in the tiny town of Del Dios on the west shore of Lake Hodges near Escondido.

Numerous pieces of physical evidence recovered led them to Gardner, Gore said. However, he would not elaborate, stating the investigation is ongoing and that authorities are still trying to find Chelsea.

The sheriff said the hunt for Chelsea, 17, will continue until she is found and is being expanded beyond Rancho Bernardo Community Park and the adjacent Lake Hodges, which search teams have been combing since the Poway High School senior disappeared Thursday.

“There are several searches going on around the county,” Gore said. “We are going to refocus some of our search efforts.”

Brent and Kelly King, Chelsea’s parents, reported their daughter missing at about 6 p.m. Thursday when she failed to come home from a run at the Rancho Bernardo park. Brent King found his daughter’s locked car in the parking lot at the park.

A multiagency missing-person search has continued round-the-clock since then.

“Our primary goal in all of this,” Gore said yesterday, “is to find Chelsea King.”

The sheriff also said there was “a strong possibility” Gardner may be connected to an attack on a lone female jogger in Rancho Bernardo Community Park that occurred the morning of Dec. 27.

He said investigators also were looking into the possibility of a connection between Gardner and Amber Dubois, who disappeared while walking to Escondido High School on the morning of Feb. 13, 2009. Amber was 14 at the time.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned,” he said.

Gardner is listed on the state’s Megan’s Law sex offender registry as having been convicted of committing a lewd or lascivious act upon a child under the age of 14. He was involved in a criminal case in San Diego Superior Court in 2000, but details were unavailable last night.

His home in Lake Elsinore was searched yesterday, Gore said. A neighbor said officers were especially interested in a shed behind the two-story house.

Less than two hours before Gardner’s arrest, Brent King sat down for his first in-depth interview since his daughter’s disappearance.

He said late Thursday that he came home from the gym about the same time his wife, Kelly, was returning from the grocery. It was about 5:30 p.m.

“My wife asked me if I had heard from Chels. I said, ‘No, I figured you had.’ Right then, we looked at each other and had a panic.”

Chelsea is the kind of daughter, her father said, who always checks in. If she was going to be late, she would let them know.

“We quickly called a few of her friends and asked if they had heard from Chelsea because we hadn’t,” King said. They hadn’t heard from her.

“We then had a mom share with us how to do the AT&T reverse autophone, which I’d never heard of before, and you can identify where a phone is based on the AT&T Web site.”

It showed a general geographical location.

“I started searching,” he said. While driving from his northern Poway home, Kelly called and told Brent she wanted to call 911 and he agreed.

“We just both knew something bad was happening,” he said.

Brent soon found Chelsea’s BMW parked behind the Rancho Bernardo Community Center just south of Lake Hodges. He looked inside and saw her belongings.

“I then looked behind me and I saw a running trail, and in the deepest part of my heart, I knew she was out there,” Brent said.

“So I took off down the trail. I ran down about a mile yelling out her name as long as I could, several times and in several directions. By this time it was already dusk and the Sheriff’s Department had already shown up. So I ran back,” he said.

Looking drawn and choking with emotion at times during the interview, Brent King said he would share every detail of his life, his daughter’s life and his family’s life “if it will help bring my daughter home. Please write up that I thank everybody. Thank everybody for their support and please ask them to keep bringing it until we have my daughter home.”

King works in the mortgage banking industry and said he is between jobs. His wife is a medical assistant for a dermatologist. They have one other child, a son in the eighth grade, who King was reticent to talk about given the situation.

Chelsea was born at Pomerado Hospital in Poway but the family moved away before she entered kindergarten. They lived in the Chicago area for 12 years before King was transferred back here in 2007 when Chelsea was in her freshman year. The family lives in a large home in a gated community in north Poway.

King said his wife is holding up through the terrible uncertainty.

“Kelly is a very, very, very strong Scottish/Irish girl,” he said. “She will do whatever it takes for her daughter.”

He said he wants the world to know his daughter.

“Since the moment that Chelsea graced us, she’s been a lightbulb, just a piece of energy,” he said. “When she comes into a room, you know she’s there. Whether it’s because she’s got this huge smile and she’s lighting it up or because she’s stumbling around and making somebody laugh.”

The straight-A, college-bound student who loves to play the French horn around the house has “an incredibly witty sense of humor,” King said. “She dreams such big dreams of not only seeing the world but healing the world.”

He doesn’t want to speculate about why his daughter is gone. Many have said she was always going out of her way to help others.

“I have tremendous amounts of worries,” he said. “I can’t categorize them. I don’t want to speculate but I could absolutely see my daughter going to someone’s aid. And if the roles were reversed she would be here (at the search center) leading the entire campaign.”

“You never want to be in the situation that my daughter is in and that my wife and I and son are in,” he said.

“But the amount of pain we’re going through is only offset by the amount of love that we feel over here,” he said, referring to a volunteer search center in Rancho Bernardo where thousands of volunteers have shown up to offer help.

He said he’s spoken recently with several parents of children who have gone missing, including Maurice Dubois and Carrie McGonigle, parents of Amber Dubois.

“It’s a terrible club to be in but thank God I’ve got people who have been where I am,” he said.

King said just hours before the arrest that he had a gut feeling.

“I’ve got an incredibly deep relationship with my daughter,” he said. “We share each other’s words. We have the exact same sense of humor, the exact same smiles.

“I know she’s still here. We just have to find her.”

Although he couldn’t share what police have told the family, King said, “What I can say is the effort is breathless, speechless, enormous. I can’t think of a resource they aren’t using across every department. The coordinated effort that is occurring, I’m witness to it. I’ve seen it.”


http://sandiego.about.com/b/2010/03/01/lake-elsinore-man-taken-into-custody-in-connection-with-chelsea-king-disappearance.htm

[Live*Learn*Love]

 Suspect Arrested in Case of Missing Teen Chelsea King
By ARTIE OJEDA and MICHELLE WAYLAND
Updated 9:47 PM PST, Sun, Feb 28, 2010

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A registered sex offender has been arrested in the case of missing teen Chelsea King, but the search for the Poway High School student is not over, according to investigators.

John Albert Gardner, 30, from Lake Elsinore was arrested outside a restaurant in Escondido around 4.30 p.m., Sheriff Bill Gore said at a 7 p.m. news conference Sunday at Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

“There are several searches going on around the county,” Gore said. “We are going to refocus some of our search efforts.”

Gardner is a registered sex offender on the Megan’s law website.

Search for Chelsea King
Major Search Efforts for Missing Poway Teen

“During the course of this extensive investigation evidence was discovered that linked Gardner to Ms. King in such a manner as to warrant his arrest,” Gore said. “At this time it would be in the best interest for the successful prosecution of Gardner that the evidence not be revealed in a public forum.”

Gardner was taken into custody outside of Hernandez' Hideaway Restaurant on Lake Drive in Escondido, officials said.

There’s a strong possibility that the suspect is connected to a separate attack December 27 in the same area, Gore said. When a reporter asked him if he thought the suspect was connected to the disappearance of Amber Dubois, Gore replied, “We’re looking into that.”

"I think there is a good possibility that Gardner may be linked to Amber's disappearance,” Amber’s mother Carrie McGonigle said Sunday night. “I pray that he isn't because it would be the worst case scenario for my daughter. I am praying for Chelsea’s' family."

Gardner was taken to the Sheriff's Administrative Center in San Diego, where he was being questioned by Homicide investigators.

“This investigation is ongoing, specific criminal charges against Gardner are still being determined,” Gore said

The manager of Hernandez' Hideaway, who only wanted to be named as Jeanette, waited on the suspect just before he was arrested.

“He just had a meal and left, there was nothing out of the ordinary,” she said.

The manager had never seen the suspect in the restaurant before.

Chelsea’s parents released this statement Sunday night on their official Facebook page:

    "Nothing will change for us until our beautiful daughter, Chelsea King, comes home. We will continue searching for her, and we ask that all of you do the same until she’s back with us. She is an extraordinary daughter and also someone who is committed to her community. She has huge dreams and wants to change the world. Hundreds of people are working alongside us to make sure she has that chance, and we are deeply grateful. She and our entire family need your help now for Chelsea’s safe return. We thank law enforcement for pursuing all avenues to bring this situation to an expedient, positive outcome. We will be posting regular updates from our family on Facebook page: Chelsea King Search Center." Kelly & Brent King, and family.

Earlier, on Sunday afternoon, Chelsea's parents sat down for a one-on-one interview with NBC San Diego. There was no hiding the despair and pain of living without their missing daughter.

"I can't begin to describe the depth of sorrow. It's been a nightmare," said Kelly King. "There's no other way to put it. It's your worst nightmare."

"My body hasn't stopped shaking since I came to the realization of what was occurring," said Brent King. "You just feel a complete amount of emptiness and helplessness.

The King's last saw their daughter Wednesday. They say she performed in a school concert that night, and then woke up early Thursday morning to attend a peer counseling meeting at Poway High School at 6:15 a.m.

Chelsea King, 17, apparently went for a run immediately after school on Thursday. She never returned home. Her car was found at the Rancho Bernardo Glassman Community Park. Her cell phone, Ipod, and school clothes were found inside the car.

Her parents say she was not a risk taker and would not wander from the trails. They say she preferred to run alone, which they frowned upon.

"We would never allow her to run by herself. But she's a 17-year old girl," said Brent King. "If she chose to run by herself on that day, she didn't do it because her parents said go ahead and run by yourself."

"When you're that age, you feel invincible," said Kelly King. "Bad things aren't going to happen to you."

The Kings thanked the community for their outpouring of support.

""I would have never thought this was possible in terms and love and support and the dedication and the commitment from this community," said Kelly King. She now wears a pair of earrings that say 'Hope', given to her by a stranger.

The Kings call their daughter their shining light. Brent King recalled a text message he recently sent his daughter.

"I texted her and said 'I am just so proud of you, for the kind of person you are.'  She's what every parent wants. She's that kid. You don't worry about her grades, we worried that she studied too much. 'Please, just relax, go have some fun.' She didn't want to do that because she has goals. She has dreams. She wants to change the world. That's who she is," said Brent King.

Kelly King talked about the special mother daughter bond she shares with Chelsea.

"We got to the point when she got a little bit older, we could wear the same clothes. It became a source of contention for me," said Kelly King with a laugh. "Part of me thought, 'oh goodness, you've got my clothes on.' The other part of me thought, 'that's pretty cool, I can fit into your clothes.'"

Holding out hope Chelsea King could some how hear them, the Kings sent out a heartfelt message to their daughter.

"Baby girl, we love you. You're coming home. Be strong, be as strong as I know you are," said Kelly King. "Sweetie, we love you. We love you with all of our heart and we're waiting. We're here honey. We're gonna find you."

Source: Suspect Arrested in Case of Missing Teen Chelsea King | NBC San Diego

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Suspect-Arrested-in-Case-of-Missing-Teen-Chelsea-King--.html

[Live*Learn*Love]

Does anyone else think it is strange her ipod was in her car? I have never been a long distance runner but if you have an ipod, don't you usually listen to it while running.

[Tracygirl]

Has anyone searched Google maps street view of the home in Lake Elsinore? The home they show has what kind of vehical? A white van, seriously a white van. I would post a pic but seem to still not be able to do that.

33210 GILLETTE ST, LAKE ELSINORE, 92530

[Tracygirl]

Has anyone searched Google maps street view of the home in Lake Elsinore? The home they show has what kind of vehical? A white van, seriously a white van. I would post a pic but seem to still not be able to do that.

33210 GILLETTE ST, LAKE ELSINORE, 92530

oops I think that is the neighbors house, lol, sorry neighbor. I now see an address on the house next door, it has a red small car, no white van.

[klaasend]

Has anyone searched Google maps street view of the home in Lake Elsinore? The home they show has what kind of vehical? A white van, seriously a white van. I would post a pic but seem to still not be able to do that.

33210 GILLETTE ST, LAKE ELSINORE, 92530

oops I think that is the neighbors house, lol, sorry neighbor. I now see an address on the house next door, it has a red small car, no white van.

I removed the picture since it's not the right house

[Tracygirl]

sorry klaas I think 33210 is the house next door, the 2 story home.

[klaasend]

Goodnight all!  Hope to wake up to good miraculous news in the morning!

[Tracygirl]

Oh I have to wake up so early tomorrow. I am going to call it a night. Prayers Chelsea is found safe and sound. goodnight all

[Shell]

Goodnight Ladies 

[Shell]

Does anyone else think it is strange her ipod was in her car? I have never been a long distance runner but if you have an ipod, don't you usually listen to it while running.

I think runners are advised to not listen to their ipod while running. They won't be able to hear traffic, or someone coming up behind them. I find it stranger that she left her phone in the car. Let's say she sprained and ankle or fell. I would think she would have her phone with her.

[mizjay]

Does anyone else think it is strange her ipod was in her car? I have never been a long distance runner but if you have an ipod, don't you usually listen to it while running.

I think runners are advised to not listen to their ipod while running. They won't be able to hear traffic, or someone coming up behind them. I find it stranger that she left her phone in the car. Let's say she sprained and ankle or fell. I would think she would have her phone with her.

Maybe she was approached before she actually got to run. Don't know if we heard whether the car was found locked, but from the search areas guess we would assume she was on the trail.

[Shell]

I want to know why the investigators left in a hurry, if it has anything to do with this case or the Amber case. I am on pins and needles.

I wonder what they found in a search of his home, and the shed out back. Also, maybe they got a warrant to search his parents house.

[mizjay]

And Shell, I think I am addicted to the scanner. I switched over to the rural one thinking maybe there might be activity further away, very busy..a fire, baby swallowd a quarter, SM is addicting enough, now I can do both at once

[Shell]

Tiny town of Del Dios, well duh is me, it is off of Del Dios Hwy. I am not sure, but I do not think a very large area around that lake is considered the tiny town of Del Dios. 

[Shell]

Does anyone else think it is strange her ipod was in her car? I have never been a long distance runner but if you have an ipod, don't you usually listen to it while running.

I think runners are advised to not listen to their ipod while running. They won't be able to hear traffic, or someone coming up behind them. I find it stranger that she left her phone in the car. Let's say she sprained and ankle or fell. I would think she would have her phone with her.

Maybe she was approached before she actually got to run. Don't know if we heard whether the car was found locked, but from the search areas guess we would assume she was on the trail.

That is what I was wondering. Did she get abducted as she was getting out of the car and never got to hit the trails for her run. That might be why they keep saying the search is continuing outside of the park area, other places in the county.

[mizjay]

Does anyone else think it is strange her ipod was in her car? I have never been a long distance runner but if you have an ipod, don't you usually listen to it while running.

I think runners are advised to not listen to their ipod while running. They won't be able to hear traffic, or someone coming up behind them. I find it stranger that she left her phone in the car. Let's say she sprained and ankle or fell. I would think she would have her phone with her.

Maybe she was approached before she actually got to run. Don't know if we heard whether the car was found locked, but from the search areas guess we would assume she was on the trail.

I'll correct myself, the article said her LOCKED car was found....